Aldridge leads Spurs past short-handed Warriors

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LaMarcus Aldridge poured in 24 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, and DeMar DeRozan added 20 points, including five in the final three minutes, as the San Antonio Spurs defeated the visiting Golden State Warriors 104-92 on Sunday.

San Antonio led just 91-90 after a 3-pointer by Klay Thompson with 3:38 to play before the Spurs forged a 6-0 run off a basket by DeRozan, a baseline jumper from Aldridge — who followed with a huge blocked shot on the other end — and two free throws from DeRozan that all but finished off the defending NBA champs.

Rudy Gay added 19 points, 15 of them in the first half, for the Spurs, who snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the second time in seven outings. Marco Belinelli and Bryn Forbes scored 12 and 10 points, respectively, for San Antonio.

Kevin Durant led all scorers with 26 points while Thompson added 25 and Quinn Cook tallied 16 for Golden State.

Durant also grabbed 10 rebounds, as did teammate Jonas Jerebko. The loss was the third straight, all in Texas, for Golden State, who were without Stephen Curry (groin) and Draymond Green (toe).

San Antonio jumped in front in the early going and led 33-27 after the end of the first 12 minutes as Gay reeled off 12 points in the quarter.

The Warriors surged back in the midst of the second quarter and led briefly, 38-37, after layup by Thompson at the 7:30 mark and again at 46-45 on a pair of free throws by Andre Iguodala about four minutes later. San Antonio then reeled off 11 of the period’s final 13 points to garner a 56-48 advantage at intermission.

San Antonio built its lead to 74-56 on Aldridge’s jumper with 4:46 to play in the third quarter before Durant and Cook scored seven points each during a 14-5 run that brought the Warriors to within 79-70 heading into the final period.

The Spurs have a quick turnaround, playing the second game of a home-road back-to-back Monday at New Orleans. Golden State heads back to the Bay Area for the opener of a four-game homestand Wednesday vs. Oklahoma City.